Mars, Inc
by Henthorne
Summary: Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura) head of the Mars Corporation, fights Jovians (Martian Successor Nadesico) with Lum, Mikoto Misaka (A Certain Scientific Railgun), Kei and Yuri (Dirty Pair). Read "Time To Travel - Ataru's Chance at Freedom", "A Certain Indispensable Railgun", and "The Great Time Travel Adventure of the Dirty Pair" for some backstory.
1. Monkey Gone To Heaven

**Part 1 – Hitchin' a Ride**

**Episode 1 – Monkey Gone To Heaven**

Henada airport, once the main international terminal for the great Japanese metropolis, had not served in the capacity for nearly a generation when Mikoto Misaka entered the terminal. Its original purpose showed up now in the form of a real Airbus A380 suspended from the ceiling. Reflexively, Mikoto ducked, just enough to be noticed by sharp-eyed travelers who giggled at her foolishness. She smiled back, adjusted the oversized sunglasses and floppy hat she wore as a disguise, and walked on. She scanned the banks of check-in counters for Mars Corporation, but the desks stretched down the far wall, long past the great red bird on the tail of the plane, and back again on an upper level. Before each desk snaked lines of passengers – mostly United Earth Force sailors - waiting for sub-orbital flights and shuttles to the Big Barrier and Tranquility Base. She saw no trace of the swoop-and-spaceship or the rolling red 'M' of the Mars corporation anywhere.

A circle of computer kiosks stood under one looming jet engine like a technological Stone Henge beneath a setting sun. She walked to an empty terminal and prepared to do obeisance to the local god of knowledge when a thunderous male voice called down to her in Japanese.

"Misaka Mikoto. Please pick up the white courtesy phone. Misaka Mikoto, please pick up the white courtesy phone."

The voice went on to repeat the message in English, Korean, Mandarin and Hindi while Mikoto squeezed shut her eyes and dropped her head in anticipation of the gawking crowds she knew to be searching out every white phone in the building, watching for her, watching for Railgun to pick up.

"Seriously?"she said to herself.

A white phone hung from the side of a kiosk and she stared at it for a moment, then picked it up. Around her came the expected gasps and whispers.

'Is that Railgun?' they asked.

'She killed all those people.'

'Twitter says she has a Jovian lover.'

'This blog says she's a spy for Nergal.'

'She must be running away.'

"Courtesy," said a voice on the phone.

"This is Misaka Mikoto," she snapped in Japanese.

"Ohayou. Just a moment."

She heard a click and a familiar voice came on the line.

Misaka san? Where are you?"

It was Nakatomi, the Mars Corporation officer who hired her a week before. The clownish image of a wire-rimmed accountant in red suspenders and a yellow bow tie presented itself to her mind's eye.

"Henada Airport," she answered.

"No." he snapped. "I mean where in the... Wait a second."

She heard the click of an old-fashioned keyboard.

"Oh," he said sounding genuinely surprised. "I found you. Stay where you are and I will pick you up."

"If you tell me where you are..." she started.

He cut her off. "There's no time. The launch window was moved up. We have no time."

The phone went dead. She waited for a moment, then hung up and tried not to look around. She knew at that moment her name was whispered and hissed in a hundred ears and that her name now scrawled across a thousand text messages, twitters, blogs and feeds.

"Kami sama save me," she whispered.

The screeching of rubber tires on polished plas-crete surprised her and she looked up in a reflex. A white electric cart still rocked on its suspension while the lone passenger and driver waved her over.

"Mikoto san! Mikoto san. Come on. There's no time."

It was, of course, Nakatomi, and true to form he wore wire-rimmed glasses and red suspenders, although his bow tie lay undone down both sides of his chest. She ran over and climbed on, the cart speeding off before she sat down.

"We launch in seven minutes," he told her.

He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn blaring a constant warning to unwary travelers between him and his goal. He swerved and dodged on his path but, to mikoto's astonishment (and discomfort) never slowed down.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "I thought we had hours."

The cart skidded sideways to avoid a fat man and his luggage and Nakatomi fought the wheel to bring it back around.

"Our target moved. I'll explain later."

Mikoto gripped the dash with sweaty fingers and tried not to shout or grab the wheel from her driver. The cart raced on, scattering travelers, until they came to the end of the terminal. There, a bank of solid steel doors stood chained and locked, each one bearing a sign in Kanji which read "No Admittance". Nakatomi did not slow down.

Mikoto shouted "Stop!"

"No time!" he yelled. "Blast them!"

"What?"

He reached into the pocket of his pants and flipped Mikoto a one hundred Yen coin. "Do it," he ordered.

Mikoto knew the man would never stop. She held the coin in hr hand, then sent the unearthly charges down her arm accelerating the disk to twice the speed of sound, sending it into the steel doors, and sending the doors – and parts of the wall – out into the landing field.

Sirens wailed and people screamed. The booming voice commanded everyone to remain where they were.

Nakatomi did not stop and the car sailed out through the open doorway and towards the ballistic launch pads. Just as they cleared the doors the cart began slowing down.

"It pulls power from the building grid," Nakatomi said. "You'll need to run it."

"How far?"

he pointed to the row of five balistic rockets steaming at their pads along the far edge of the field like some giant's pipe organ.

"It's the last one in the row."

"Fine," Mikoto grumbled, "but we talk about this later."

She leaned out of the cart and stuck her hand underneath, up near the motor. Instantly the cart sped up again.

"Can you make it go any faster?"

"Electricity doesn't work that way," Mikoto snapped. "It's not magic."

"Says the human electric eel," Nakatomi snarked.

They raced along an increasingly scorched concrete and steel roadway towards the rockets. Klaxons sounded, The same booming voice from inside the concourse shouted at them to 'Clear the Area' in Japanese, English, Korean and Mandarin. Mikoto started to speak but her words were lost beneath the racket of the launch pads and the rushing wind.

"Can't we take another rocket?" she screamed.

"No!" Nakatomi shouted back.

The cart approached a barrier raising up out of the path. True to form Nakatomi did not slow down.

"Don't stop feeding power!" he commanded and stomped the peddle hard to the floor of the cart. The barrier was simply a bar on two upright posts. They raced towards it and just as they were about to hit it Nakatomi shouted "Duck!".

Mikoto did as she was told just in time to hear the barrier tear the cart's plastic windshield from the dashboard and drag it over the top of the cart. When they had cleared the barrier Mikoto looked back and saw a row of jagged spikes rising up beneath the barrier. Nakatomi did not look towards her.

"Don't stop feeding power," he shouted.

Mikoto grabbed on to a metal bar and hung on tight, electricity coursing through her arm. They raced along until the cart came up beneath the final rocket and Nakatomi brought it to a skidding halt. He snatched her hand away from the dash and dragged her from her seat before she could get her feet beneath her. She stumbled and tripped towards an open elevator on a gantry next to the rocket body and Nakatomi punched the controls before she was all the way inside.

"We have less than three minutes until the rocket lifts off," he said.

"Will we be in trouble if we miss this one?" she asked him.

"No," he answered, but his eyes did not leave the rocket top. "But only because we'll be vaporized."

Mikoto had the feeling the man might be joking and sincerely wished he was.

The elevator inched into the sky and as they reached the capsule Mikoto realized it was only a two-seater.

"We're going to Mercury in that?"

"Don't be daft. This will take us to high orbit and outside the barrier."

"They'll let us through? The UEF will do that?" she asked.

He removed his eyes from the capsule and looked down at her. Mikoto had the distinct feeling the man was considering revealing a secret.

"The UEF high command was very interested in helping... us... leave Earth."

The pause rang in Mikoto's ears like the klaxons and she knew the man chose his words with care.

His eyes returned to the capsule but hers remained looking down.

Eventually, after what felt to be an hour, they reached the top. Nakatomi opened the side hatch and pushed Mikoto through, then jumped in after her.

"Sit down," he ordered and Mikoto took the farthest seat while Nakatomi sealed the hatch. Just then the great rocket engine rumbled beneath them and the accountant-clown tumbled into his seat.

"Shouldn't we be in pressure suits?" she asked.

"No time."

The view through the single small window above their heads changed as the rocket began to ascend. UEF training took over and Mikoto strapped herself in.

"Better do the same," she told him. "Once we stop main burn you'll float free. It can be pretty bumpy."

Acceleration forces multiplied, pushing her back into her seat. Nakatomi lay frozen in his seat, fingers clenching the arm rests. She watched him panic: his chest heaving, his eyes shut fast. Only when she knew he could not help himself did she undo her harness and, with every bit of strength she could gather, wrapped the belts around the frightened man and secure him to his seat. She returned to her seat and fastened her restraints once more, panting with the effort.

When she next looked out the view port it was blue-black and the first bright lights blinked in the false twilight. The acceleration slowed and she heard the pops and felt the bone-rattling jolt as the booster dropped away, then another kick in her back as the capsule's main engine kicked in and pushed them up into orbit.

She felt butterflies in her stomach and said a silent prayer that she had skipped breakfast that morning. She remembered the rocket thrust formulas and mas-to-strength ratios of the capsule designs. She knew how close the engineers hone to the specifications and how near the ship was to crumpling like a paper cup or flying apart like a ball of party confetti. She fought the knowledge from seeping too far into her forebrain and hoped the builders were not working under a budget.

She noticed Nakatomi's breathing slowed and color returned to his knuckles.

"Would you mind telling me," she asked, "why I apparently risked my life so I could fly to mercury in an orbiter capsule? Isn't Mars Corp supposed to be a huge mega-conglomerate?"

"Yes. The Mars Corpration," he spat out 'corporation' as if he were pointing out a difficult pronunciation and pointing out the correct way of saying the word for Mikoto's benefit, "is the largest and most powerful entity in the solar system – bar none. Through production of key military and industrial materials Mars Incorporated controls four fifths of the Earth's power, food, entertainment and defense companies. In addition we own a full one-third of the surface of Mars and control surface rights to all of Mercury and the dark side of Luna. Fifteen thousand space objects in the Main Belt belong to the corporation"

"Owned," said Mikoto.

"Pardon me?"

"You said Mars Corp – the Mars Corporation," he smiled at the correction like a teacher with a student, "You said it owns a third of Mars. Wouldn't that be past tense?"

His smile faded. "Technically we do still own that, yes."

"So... what? We're going to mount some high-tech raid on the planet and kick the Jovians back to Titan?"

"No. no we are not and I'm afraid we are still too close to the Big Barrier to speak of our ultimate goal. Currently we are on course to rendezvous with the Mars-Mercury Cycler."

"The MMC is abandoned," said Mikoto. "Unstable orbits or something?"

"Yes. Something," said Nakatomi. Mikoto thought he sounded just a little distracted.

Mikoto heard the rumble of attitude thrusters and the capsule rolled again until a big UEF battle cruiser appeared in the behind it twinkled the orbiting guns of the Big Barrier. The communications speaker chirped and the three notes of UEF message identification played in the capsule.

"Unidentified balistic ship. This is UEF Yellow Rose," said a twangy American female. "What is your destination? Over."

Nakatomi flipped a switch.

"Yellow Rose," he said. "This is ballistic mission 11372 Mars Corporation. Over."

"11372 Mars Corp, state your destination. Over."

"Destination MMC. Repeat. Destination MMC."

There was a short pause and the voice came back on line.

11372 mars Corp, you are cleared for Big Barrier passage. Yellow Rose over and out."

The three chimes sounded once more leaving Mikoto confused.

"No one is cleared for the Big Barrier," she said. "That's kind of the point."

"Since the Nadesico escaped there have been... changes. Nergal is in talks with the UEF to compensate them for the damages. It's likely that their new ship will be run under UEF command."

"But they let us through."

"Yes, and they know the Mars Corporation is planning something and they know it's near Mercury."

"And that's far enough away for them not to care. Hmm."

"You have a thought on the subject?" Nakatomi asked.

She shrugged. He nodded.

"Lots to think about. Later," he said.

She looked back to where Nakatomi's fingers wrapped whitely around the ends of the arm rest once again.

"Have you ever traveled by ballistic rocket?" she asked him.

"Oh yes. Missile flights on Mars are – or rather were – common. The atmosphere was too thin for airplanes when the Mars Corporation first set up operations. Missiles were the only practical planetary transportation. You know the history of manned ballistic flight is quite fascinating. Have you heard of Yuri Gagarin?"

She shook her head and noticed the man's fingers again turned pink as he rambled.

"That's a shame," he continued. "He was the first man to orbit the Earth way back in 1954. It's interesting to note that, at the time, Russia was part of the Soviet Union and did not have access to transistor-based electronics."

Nakatomi droned on and Mikoto tuned him out, happy at least to have her companion a bit more relaxed. There were no sounds in the cabin besides Nakatomi's voice and the hiss of the CO2 scrubber. Nor where there any orders besides the persistent new-car stink of freshly-minted plastic parts.. Then too, the surge of adrenalin, prompted by her race to catch the missile, subsided. All this came together to wrap her in a muzzy blanket of sleepy numbness. The world faded away in a rush of rockets and stars.

She woke to a bang that made a charge rush to her fingers. Nakatomi rambled on.

"...the waiter took the brandy bottle and another saucer from the counter inside the cafe and marched out to the old man's table"

"Oh," she said, "I fell asleep."

"Yes, I know," said Nakatomi

"Why did you keep talking?" she asked.

"For comfort."

Mikoto smiled at him. "Thank you, Nakatomi san, but you don't need to comfort me. I've been in space before."

Nakatomi's eyes remained focused on something through the overhead port, something only he could see.

"It's not for you. It's for me."

"But you've been in rockets before. You don't get like this every time?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You asked before why we were in such a hurry," he said. "It's because the MMC changed trajectory last week. The techs just recalibrated this morning."

Mikoto smiled at the clownish man. She reached to his arm rest and laid her had on his once again bloodless fingers.

"I'm sure it's just routine," she told him sweetly.

He continued. "One of the reasons the Mars Corporation purchased the cycler is because it's unstable in its orbit."

She laughed. "You said that already."

"The missile techs have only ever hit the MMC ninety-one percent of the time."

Mikoto frowned. "And?"

Nakatomi swallowed. "Of the seventy-five missions sent to the MMC, only sixty eight ever docked. The other seven overshot or undershot."

Mikoto swallowed. The implications appeared in her forebrain like an evil ghost. She forced a smile.

"Nine out of ten chance is pretty... good."

Nakatomi shook his head once in a single tight, quick shake.

"One in ten chance of dying," he said.

Mikoto nodded. The capsule rolled again and the main motor fired. When it stopped both occupants stared wide eyed out the viewport at nothing.

"I really wish you hadn't told me that," Mikoto said.

"So do I," replied Nakatomi.

Together the pair sat in silence as the stars twirled around them.

Sometime later the communications speaker chirped.

"This is Phaseolus. That you, Sui san?"

Nakatomi cleared his throat and tapped a button on the panel

"This is 11372 Mars Corporation. We are ready to dock. Over."

"You beat the odds again. Over."

"I'll feel better when we're inside. Over"

"Did you pick her up? Is she with you? Over."

"Misaka san is with me. Over."

"Great news. Docking procedures initiated. Spin up in five minutes. Brace yourselves. Over."

Mikoto was about to comment on Nakatomi's nickname when thrusters fired and the capsule swung about. The ellipsoid of the MMC, the Phaseolus as it was apparently called, filled the view port. The ship swung around, or seemed to from her perspective, until they faced the blunt end of the spinning air lock. The ships aligned. Thrusters fired and the Phaseolus spin slowed. Mikoto felt her stomach lurch. When she looked at Nakatomi, his face matched the color of his knuckles. She imagined her own face looked no better. The spinning continued and Mikoto faught to keep her stomach settled.

Twenty minutes later a teenaged girl with a fluffy mane of brilliant red hair helped Mikoto through the docking hatch and into an room was barley large enough for two people and Nakatomi already passed through.

"Welcome about the Phaseolus," said the girl, "Or, as I call it, the 'Barf Barge'. I'm Kei."

She looked down at Mikoto's clothes and at a prominent wet spot on her shirt.

"That's unfortunate. You'll get used to it. Pretty soon you won't even think that you're spinning through space like a rifle bullet. Wow! Sorry. I'll get a mop."

Kei grinned at Mikoto who knelt on the floor heaving over a smile puddle of bile. She chuckled as if it were a joke and walked through the airlock. Another teenager, this one with straight blue hair down to the middle of her back. Like the red-head, she wore a red jumpsuit unzipped far enough to relieve the uncomfortable tight fit across her oversized breasts.

"Hi. I'm Yuri," the girl squeaked in Japanese. "That was Kei. She has the manners of a goat. Let me help you up."

Yuri reached down to help Mikoto up, grimacing at the pool on the floor.

"Don't worry about that. We throw up so often you'd think we were al pregnant. Kei tossed her cookies just yesterday and we've been on board for two months."

Mikoto swallowed. She tried to smile but it came as a grimace. "Something to look forward to."

"Too bad about your clothes, but we all wear these horrible things anyway."

She tugged at her red jumpsuit in disgust. Mikoto experienced a jolt of A-cup angst at the magnitude of the young girl's endowments before she reminded herself it had been a long time since she herself looked like a teenager.

"We'll get you cleaned up. Kei can take care of this."

The redhead appeared in the airlock.

"Hey! Just wait!"

"Kei. Clean it up. You said you would."

Yuri dragged Mikoto through the air lock, pushing Kei out of the way. The airlock opened on a room where the "floor" wrapped up and around the walls like the sides of a barrel with equipment and crates of supplies stacked all around the perimeter. Mikoto's stomach lurched as her brain tried simultaneously to rectify centrifugal forces keeping everything on the floor/walls, and ignore the fact the floor spun like a carnival ride.

"Maybe I won't now," said Kei. "Maybe I'll leave it for you."

"Lum cleaned up after you this morning. Just do it."

"And why can't you?"

"I'm getting her changed." Yuri turned to Mikoto. "What's your name again?"

"Her name," said a female voice from the room's other airlock, "Is Mikoto Misaka. Lieutenant Misaka, formerly of the UEF. Recently discharged for getting her squadron killed. Isn't that right... Railgun?"

Kei and Yuri both looked at the green hair girl girl. Mikoto noticed something just a little alien in her eyes. Then again there were the two short yellow horns sticking up from her head. Yuri looked back at Mikoto. Her mouth hung open at a gasp.

"Christ. Railgun," said Kei.

"Hush," Yuri told her, but she stepped back from Mikoto herself.

"I didn't kill them," Mikoto said.

"Uh huh," said the green-haired alien. "Too bad you can't tell them that."

Mikoto pushed past the girls. She ran up the floor to the airlock near the ceiling and around the alien girl to vanish into the other room.

"Jesus Lum. Do you always have to be a complete bitch?" asked Yuri?

"No one asked me if I wanted to be here," answered the alien. "Moroboshi dragged me with - and no one said I had to play nice with you kids, so shut the fuck up."

Lum turned and stomped through the airlock after Mikoto.

Kei shrugged when the girl left. "That answers that."

"What? asked Yuri.

"Oni have periods, too."

Yuri grimaced. "Fuck, are you crude. Clean up her barf. I'll get her jumpsuit."

"Fine. You get her," said Kei.

"What?"

"She's yours. I get Lum."

"But... but you hate Lum."

Kei shrugged. She walked up the floor/wall and pulled a blue towel from a box. "As far as I know Lum hasn't killed anyone."

"Then... then why is she here?"

Kei shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care. Railgun is your problem, not mine."

"That's not fair," whined Yuri.

"Complain to Moroboshi. I don't give a space rat's ass."

Kei walked through the airlock to the entry room, leaving Yuri alone.

In the dormitory section of Phaseolus Akamitsui Nakatomi sat next to another oriental man at a steel table. He looked younger than Nakatomi, but only in that his dark brown hair lay longer on his neck and his brown eyes gleamed with mischief. The man was Ataru Moroboshi. Both of them looked at the tablet computer on the table.

"What do you think, Sui-san?" Ataru asked.

Nakatomi squinted in concentration."We have seventy seven type-twentyfive space and atmosphere tactical fighters on the Ume. I think we can hold the Jovians."

Ataru sighed. "About the girls, Sui. Do you think this will work?"

"They are all very pretty. You always had a weak spot for pretty women, Tari-kun. Are you sure this isn't about that?"

Ataru smirked. "Not completely. I think they can work as a team."

"I'd put my money on the S&As."

Ataru's smirk blossomed to a full smile. "I've never known you to gamble on anything."

Akimatsui shook his head and did not smile. "This wouldn't be a gamble."

"You worry too much, Sui-san. It will all work out."

"You've been wrong before."

Ataru nodded. On the tablet he watched the beautiful, scowling green-haired alien girl stomping through the training section towards the dormitories, ignoring a crying Mikoto.

"Yes," he said. "Yes I have."


	2. Paper Lanterns

**Part 1 – Hitchin' A Ride**

**Episode 2 – Paper Lanterns**

"Ladies," said Akamatsui Nakatomi, "As some of you have guessed these four pods are the training simulators for the Occasumi."

The thin man, his greying hair carefully parted and yellow bow tie neatly tied, pointed to four van-sized black metal boxes around the room. Two boxes were on one "side" of the room and the other two were on the side opposite. In this case, given that the construction of their spaceship was a spinning barrel, these sides were opposite each other, or above and below, depending on where on the curving floor/wall you stood.

Once more Mikoto Misaka fought back the knowledge that the room spun as it traveled and the only thing keeping her on the "floor" was centrifugal force. Her stomach lurched and she grimaced as she fought down her breakfast. Yuri reached out to put a hand on the woman's shoulder, only to have Mikoto shrug it off. The dark haired teenager snorted and turned away, causing Kei to shake her head at her ex-partner's naivety. Lum stood at Oni military ease: hands at her sides, shoulders straight, head slightly angled. All four wore red coveralls with the Mars Incorporated spaceship-and-swoosh logo on the left breast. Kei and Lum both wore sunglasses and stood a little apart from Mikoto and Yuri, although Lum, who wore an Oni tiger-stripe crest on one shoulder, ignored Kei.

"These are paired, two and two, forming two ships. Since you already chose partners, Kei and Lum will take those." He pointed to the pair of boxes to his left. "And Yuri and Mikoto will take those two."

Mikoto cleared her throat.

"You have a question?" he asked.

"I'm the only one with a control tattoo." She held up her hand with the intricate arching lines scribed on the back. The metallic ink created electrical/computational pathways for neural interface and control of vehicles. "When will everyone else get theirs?"

"After the second lunar attack, the Mars Corporation determined the control interface used by the UEF had a flaw. We've decided to abandon that technology."

"How will we interact with the Opp-a-zumi?" she asked.

"Occasumi," Nakatomi corrected. "You will learn."

Lum snickered at Mikoto. She walked up the floor to one box with the word "Pilot" painted on the side and opened the door.

"Must be mine," she said.

Kei looked at the other box with 'REO' on the side.

"I'm sorry, Lum," Akamitsui told her. "You and Mikoto are REOs in these ships." He pronounced the acronym the same way as 'Rio'.

Lum dropped her mirrored glasses so she could look over the tops. "Nuh-uh," she pointed to her own face. "Pi-lot."

Now Mikoto snickered and pointed at the green-haired girl. "Bat-ter-ry," she told Lum and walked to her box.

"No fucking way!" yelled Lum. "You tell that general wannabe Moroboshi that I'm flying this thing or I'm out."

"Kei is your pilot, Lum. You are the Radio Electronics Officer."

"We'll see about that," said Lum and a blue field formed around her body. She turned, laid her hands on the outside of the REO box and discharged the full force of her power into it. Once she finished, she turned and gave Akamatsui a smug smile. The man did not react.

"Will the rest of you please take your positions," he said. "Mikoto, you are Yuri's REO."

"I figured," Mikoto told him and climbed inside her box.

When the other three women were inside and the doors closed Nakatomi approached the glaring Lum.

"You are the most experienced of the team, Lum. We need your leadership, but you can't be a pilot."

"I just blew out your little toy," she smirked. "I guess the _team_flies with three."

Akamatsui reached around her and opened the pod door. Inside, the view screens glowed and all sensors read normal. Lum gaped, then grimaced as she hid her surprise.

"Mr. Moroboshi has some experience with organic power systems," he said. "I assure you that your training pod is one hundred percent shock proof. Please climb aboard."

"And what if I just shock to hell out of you? Hmmm?"

Nakatomi pulled himself up so he stood just taller than Lum. He did not scowl or glare at the woman, but neither did he smile.

"Like you I am Mr. Moroboshi's assistant, but unlike you I chose my position. He is an honorable man and has only the most worthwhile reasons for you to be here. I don't know why he wants you here, but he says that without you all of this will be futile."

"Fine," she huffed and climbed inside. "I heard about the little bet you two have," she said. "That the fighters can hold off the Jovians? I think you have a little bet about this, too."

Akamatsui said nothing.

"That's what I thought. Little wannabes playing at war."

She closed the door. Nakatomi drew a line down his right cheek from his ear to his mouth. A microphone appeared on his skin and viewing goggles unfolded over his eyes.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Four by four," answered Kei.

"That's 'five by five' moron," said Lum.

Yuri snickered.

"Do you even know what that means?" Kei asked the blue haired girl.

"You don't," answered Yuri.

"Roger," said Mikoto.

"I am reading you clear," said Nakatomi. "Yuri, Kei. There is a screen to your left, tap it and a check list will come up. Mikoto and Lum, yours is on your arm pads.

"You want us to stick our arms in these?" asked Mikoto. She looked at two hollow robotic arms on gimbal mounts before a stout harness.

"Buckle into the restraint system first, then initiate the corporeal interlock sequence." Akamitsui told her.

"He means yes," responded Lum.

"Pilots buckle in, too, then start your checks."

"Yes dad," Yuri responded.

"Please respond either 'affirmative' or 'negative'."

"Aff-firm-it-tive!" answered Kei.

"Where's the stick?" asked Yuri, "and why aren't there any seats?"

"Please start your checks," said Nakatomi. "I'll go over that in a minute."

"Um, Ventral thrusters, check," said Kei. "Port thrusters... Hey! This thing looks like one of those Nergal robots."

Nakatomi cleared his throat. "Please finish your checks. Lum, Mikoto, are you harnessed in?"

"Affirmative," answered Mikoto.

"Affirmative," answered Lum.

"Begin CI sequence."

Kei and Yuri audibly ran through their check lists. Mikoto checked her arms and discovered a screen mounted to the right wrist. With a little experimentation she found she could work the screen by staring at it and moving her left fingers but did not need to touch it.

"Uh - CI sequence, um completed?" said Mikoto.

"Same here," said Lum.

"REOs, please run your checks."

There was a moments silence and then Lum spoke up. "That figures."

"Is there a problem?" asked Nakatomi.

"These aren't real ships. These are robots." She laughed. "Congratulations Kei, you are now the pilot of a giant toy."

Neither Kei nor Yuri responded.

"What's the matter?" Lum asked, her voice full of derision, "You two don't like these things, do you?"

"Lum, we should just get on with this," suggested Yuri. She sounded tired and a little annoyed with the Oni.

"Nergal has these, too. Aestivalus, I think?" said Kei.

"Yes. The Nadesico used those on the way through the Big Barrier." Akamatsui did not say that the Aestivalus information was classified.

"We'd like the check lists run through with each launch. REOs, please tell your pilots when your lists are complete. Pilots will report to the deck officer when their Occasum is ready. Lum, you and Kei are Occasum one. Yuri and Mikoto have number two.

Kei snorted.

"Real mature, Kei," said Yuri.

"Ready, Yuri," said Mikoto.

"Ready," said Lum.

"Number one is ready," said Kei.

"Number two is ready," said Yuri.

Kei snorted again.

"Kei!"

"Please," said Akamitsui. He sounded frustrated with his charges. "Pilots, your screens show the hanger deck of the Umi..."

"Is that the name of the ship?" asked Yuri.

"Yes. The ship is the Umi. You can see blinking arrows directing you towards the launch tubes. Follow the arrows and prepare for launch."

"Christ, this is just a cheap video game," said Lum.

"That's why your just a passenger," Yuri told her. "Do these things have like weapons?"

"Yes," sighed Nakatomi. "Please just concentrate on getting to the launch tube."

"This is hard to move," complained Kei. "Like walking with weights on. Should I grab onto the bar to..."

"No!" shouted Nakatomi, but it was too late. Kei grabbed onto a bar in front of her, activating her weapons array. She jumped backwards as the active display came on-line, sending her Occasum into a simulated fall. Both she and Lum were pushed backwards hard into their harnesses. Kei, being unable to close the harness over her breasts, bounced forward with the simulated impact and grabbed onto the bar once more. This fired off an array of twenty simulated missiles, two of which hit Mikoto and Yuri in Occasum two, destroying it along with the launch bay and seventy percent of the simulated battle ship Umi.

"That wasn't my fault," shouted Kei.

Two hours later, Nakatomi sat on a chair he had brought in from the crew section. His bow tie lay undone on either side of his unbuttoned collar, and his wire rimmed glasses sat atop a very messy shock of greying hair.

"That was Yuri's fault!" shouted Kei.

"All right," sighed Nakatomi, "Let's review. Yuri and Kei are not to engage the main weapons system within the launch bay, or the rocket boosters, or the secondary weapons, the tracking lasers, the main x-ray sensing grid, fuel dump, auxilliary fuel tank drop or pilot eject."

"Moron," said Yuri.

"Not my fault," said Kei. "And you hit the remote thingie for my ship."

"Or engage synchronous puppet mode," added Nakatomi.

"Have you two ever flown anything?" demanded Lum.

"That you haven't destroyed?" added Mikoto?

"Thanks, Railgun," said Yuri. "That's just great coming from you."

"MOVING ON," said Nakatomi rather more loudly than necessary, "you did manage to launch that last time, so progress is being made. In the future, Yuri, please do not kick object out of your way."

"Kei wouldn't move. I was going to hit her."

"I'll reset the simulation and we'll try it again."

A chorus of groans sounded over the speakers. Silently, internally where no one would ever see, Nakatomi smiled.

"Can't we take a break?" asked Lum. "Bimbo and Bimbette here dropped me on my ass sixteen times. I need to sit down."

"Once more through the launch simulation and we can take a short break. Try to make it out of the tubes this time ladies."

Mechanically now Mikoto went through her check list and reported.

"Ready Blue," she told Yuri. They had given up on names and chosen call signs within the first half hour.

"Baijiu ready," reported Yuri.

"Everclear ready," reported Kei.

The drink names for the Occasumi were chosen by Kei and Yuri after a long protest by Yuri over Kei's childish snorting. Again Mikoto did not mind.

"Launch control clear," said Nakatomi. "Launch when ready."

"Tiger to control. Everclear launching in four, three, two, launch."

That was another change. Lum insisted on being flight leader after their pilots destroyed the battleship three times in a row. Launches improved a little, but it left Mikoto as flight leader of her Occasum. For whatever reason her ship responded faster than Lum's, cutting a second from her launch time, a fact which continued to irk the Oni.

"Railgun to control. Baijiu launch in three, two launch."

She watched the screen as Yuri stepped neatly to the launch tube and then she whispered a little prayer. "Kami-sama save me," she said, and even though it was only a simulation she felt a little safer.

This time, to everyone's astonishment, the Occasumi launched almost perfectly.

"Good launch," announced Nakatomi. "Red, Blue, get those ships clear of the Umi. You'll draw fire..."

Before the man could finish, a flight of one hundred hoppers swarmed out of the black, guns firing projectiles.

"Red, get me some altitude," commanded Lum. "Blue, sweep around their flank. Railgun start blasting."

"Affirmative Tiger," answered Yuri. Mikoto watched the view-screen as the young pilot brought her ship around the mass. Everclear appeared over the hoppers, firing missiles and using Lum's power attacks to take out five or more at a time. The giant robot's moves were jerky and simplistic with no tactics whatsoever.

"I have lock," announce Yuri. "Launching missiles."

Mikoto saw a group of three missiles shoot from Baijiu's chest and break up into fifteen smaller projectiles to explode two of the little robotic monsters.

"Sunk two!" shouted Yuri.

"Don't get cocky, Blue. Railgun, engage," commanded Lum.

Mikoto stood frozen with her arms limp in the CI interfaces. The continuing mass of hoppers seemed to have no end and even though simulated fire from the battleship behind her, along with the unpracticed, disjointed efforts of Everclear, destroyed many of the enemy, many, many more appeared.

"Railgun, engage!" shouted Lum. "Engage! Engage!"

But Mikoto could not move. She watched as twenty hoppers rushed Everclear and Lum and Kei, unaccustomed to the controls, flailed at the force until the ships blew the towering giant apart.

"Railgun, do something!" shouted Yuri. "Mikoto! Mikoto!"

Hoppers rushed at her and she raised her arms defensively, uselessly, to block the attack.

"Oh God!" screamed Yuri.

The simulation screens went blank. There were exactly three seconds of silence. Mikoto knew this because she anticipated what came next and counted the moments until it happened.

"Fucking God Dammit, Railgun. What the hell was that Fucking awful bag of dicks?"

Mikoto withdrew her arms from the CI. She tore at her harness until it released, then opened the door.

"Mikoto," shouted Akamatsui. "Stay at your post until I dismiss you."

But she already left through the hatch into the storage room.

Ataru entered the training space from the crew quarters. He held a computer pad in one hand and a can of beer in the other. He handed both to Nakatomi.

"That last sim was a little harsh," Ataru told his secretary.

The other three boxes opened up and Kei, Yuri and Lum climbed out. The two teenagers remained respectfully aloof from their trainer and their boss, but Lum came and stood next to the men.

"These sims are based on the Martian and Lunar attacks," Akamatsui told him. "We may face much worse."

"I need to know if she can do this, Sui-san," said Ataru.

"I believe she can."

"Or," interjected Lum, "We can call this what it really it. Zero-for-twenty in completed sims, One hundred percent casualty rate and..." she took the pad from Nakatomi who reluctantly sipped from the beer. "... A whopping two percent fire-to-hit ratio with less than point zero zero three percent lethality. You two are wannabes."

Ataru took the pad from the Oni and returned it to Nakatomi. He stood toe to toe with the smirking green-haired woman and scowled.

"Lum, I am telling you this both as your boss and as your official assignment from the war lord: back off."

He turned to the storage airlock and crossed the large room until he reached it and passed through.

"Are we dismissed?" asked Yuri.

"Go get something to eat," Nakatomi told them.

Lum, Yuri and Kei crossed to the crew airlock and exited.

"No beer!" he shouted as the door closed, then dropped down in his chair. He looked at the can in his hand and, shaking his head, tipped the beverage back and gulped it down.

In the storage room Mikoto sat on a plastic crate quietly weeping. Ataru crossed to the woman and sat down on the edge next to her.

"That could have gone better," he told her.

"The sims?" she asked and sniffed at her tears.

"The whole training. Nakatomi san has trained before, but I think you four might be too much for him."

The two sat in silence for a moment, then Mikoto spoke again.

"Am I fired?"

Ataru shrugged. "Can't kick you off the Phaseolus, so I guess you stay. I need you to do your job, though."

"Why am I here?" she asked. "Why do you need me?"

"I needed to most powerful electromaster in the race – that's you."

"So that's all I am? Just a battery?"

Ataru shook his head. "You are a mind, too. If this would work with just a battery that's what I'd use. This needs your mind behind it."

"That's insane. Computers can make all sorts of..."

"No!" he snapped. "Not just your mind." Ataru rubbed his temples with the fingers of his left hand. "It's hard to explain."

"You want my soul, is that it?"

He puffed out his breath, dropped his hand back to his lap and looked around the compartment. The boxes and barrels of supplies lay stacked up around the outside of the crowded room. On the far edge were crates of MREs – meals ready to eat. The manufacturers stamped their iconic trademark – a red paper lantern – on the side of each plastic crate and Ataru's eyes fell on that.

"When I was a boy there was a festival in Nihonmatsu. I went there once with a friend from school."

"You mean the lantern festival?" Mikoto asked. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

Ataru nodded. "That's the one. I remember seeing the big mikoshi shrine out in the street before it was lit. It was early evening and we were on the way to the river to watch the boat races my friend was in. I was in grade two then, just sixteen, and I'd never seen anything like that. Did you ever see it?"

Mikoto nodded. "Virtual. Academy City had – has a holo-projector the students can use."

Ataru wrinkled his nose.

"Not the same thing. You don't get the smells. Anyway, I asked one of the miko there what it was. She told me it was a sacred shrine to light the festival outside the regular shrine. No one was allowed to touch it but the priest and even then the only ones who could move it were his helpers. The whole things was blessed and sacred. I was impressed that they would keep something so fragile as a paper lantern shrine year after year and I asked what happened to all of the lanterns the rest of the year."

Ataru did not finish his story but remained looking at the icons on the crates.

"What?" asked Mikoto. "What did they do?"

"They threw them out."

Mikoto blinked trying to figure out the story. "But those were sacred."

Ataru shook his head. "That's what I thought too, but the lanterns weren't sacred. It was the fire inside."

Ataru stood and walked down the wall until he came back to the airlock. He pressed the exit code and the door swung open.

"Take a break but be ready when Akarimatsui calls."

Mikoto looked down at her hands. "Kami-sama save me," she whimpered.

Ataru stepped through to the training section and sealed the door behind him.


	3. Playing With Girls

**Part 1 - Hitchin' A Ride**

**Episode 3 - Playing With Girls**

A flight of twenty hoppers converged on Everclear and scattered. The massive mecha leaped up through space on rocket boosters as Lum brought her arms together and fired off two canon bursts at the trailing unit, blasting it to a brilliant ball of fire. The hoppers circled back and now Kei launched two sets of short-range multi-warhead missiles at the remaining fighters.

"Tiger. Positive lock on eight hoppers. Reading twenty more on our six at ninety degrees."

"Face 'em small, Red. Blue, you're out of position. Get your ass above me. Railgun get ready for a barrier sweep."

Kei rotated the ship along it's length, spinning on her heel, then fell forward, presenting the smallest target possible towards the oncoming attackers.

"Tulip sighted," called Yuri. "On your three at forty-five. A hundred clicks out."

"Flight leader. Main target spotted in Ume sector ultima 351," called Lum. "Blow that shit outta space for me."

A flight of ten S&As flew from cover near the the wireframe representation of the Umi.

"Blue, follow on the flyboys' six and watch their asses."

"Affirmative, Tiger."

Mikoto watched Everclear move overhead as Yuri piloted Baiju beneath. Ahead were the ten S&As, the space and atmosphere fighters aboard the Umi, on their way towards the wireframe Tulip. Mikoto watched the scanning radar and the sensors for any incoming blips.

"Flight leader to Baijiu. How do you want to do this, Railgun?"

Mikoto panicked. She had never seen a Jovian Tulip before and had no ideas on how to destroy one.

"Flight leader," she told the simulation, "Attack the flanks."  
"Affirmative Railgun," the sim responded.

The ten fighters split up and began circling the massive transdimensional gateway, firing volley after volley at the strange craft. Almost simultaneously the Tulip opened and hundreds of tentacles emerged along with dozens of flights of hoppers.

In minutes the S&As were overwhelmed.

"Railgun!" shouted Yuri. "We've got to attack. Everclear, we need backup, now. The fighters are gone. The fighters are gone."

Again Mikoto felt panic rise. She knew this was only a training exercise but she had no idea how to destroy the device. What was worse, the hoppers from the Tulip would overwhelm her in a matter of seconds. Yuri maneuvered Baijiu in front of the rift in space.

"Bringing main weapons array on line," she said. "Mikoto, this thing is active. We need to shut it down now or the Ume is gone."

"Uh, bring us around to the base, Blue," Mikoto ordered.

"That thing will eat us alive!" squealed Yuri.

"Do it, Blue. I have an idea."

Yuri and Baijiu dove beneath the hordes of hoppers while Mikoto stretched the robot's arms out to the base of the titanic blossom.

"Baijiu Charging," she announced.

"Warning. Five thousand amp limit reached," announced the simulator. "Decrease load now."

The simulator shut off Mikoto's capacitor pathways, then discharged the load into the Phaseolus batteries. Everclear appeared overhead with both robot arms delivering shock after shock to the hoppers.

"Blue, get up here." shouted Lum. "Railgun, engage the hoppers. You are no use against the Tulip."

"But the sim control shut off..."

"Get up here now! Engage the hoppers."

"No! The Tulip is where the hoppers come from. I need to..."

Without warning the screens went blank. All systems on each of the simulators powered off leaving the four women strapped into their equipment in complete darkness.

"What the hell?" asked Lum.

"Did you burn out the ship power?" squeaked Yuri. "Oh God! We're all going to die."

"Calm the fuck down," said Kei. "Sui san cut us off."

There was a momentary silence and then power came on to each unit.

"Please exit your simulators," ordered Nakatomi.

Mikoto unbuckled her harness and opened the simulator door. Kei already stood outside her box and Lum's door swung open as Mikoto watched. The green-haired Oni lowered her mirrored shades and glared at Mikoto over the lenses. When Yuri climbed out Nakatomi stepped from his customary spot at the end of the room between the units to a spot just just in front of Mikoto's unit.

"That sort of insubordination can not happen in battle," he said.

To the electromaster's chagrin he looked directly at her as he spoke and, although his words did not rise in pitch, the message was crystal clear both to her and to the other three women: this is for Mikoto.

"This is serious. You won't have the luxury of running away or trying a new tactic or arguing. These ships exists for one thing and only one thing. You are to protect the Ume when necessary and fight the Jovian ships if possible. The Occasumi allow the Ume to present a secondary battle force along its own perimeter while the S&As present long-range tactical offensive strikes."

"You mean we're goal keepers?" asked Lum.

"From what I know about Oni culture that analogy would be correct," Nakatomi told her.

"You wanna share that with the rest of the class?" asked Kei.

"In kakurenbo, our sacred contest, you can fight with one Oni as the warrior defeating each Oni in turn, or many Oni can fight, making war parties." She spoke reverently as if explaining a deep mystery to outsiders. "With war parties there are goals where defeated Oni are kept. There is usually a goal keeper to keep the defeated from escaping."

Mikoto snickered. Yuri covered her mouth and looked away from Lum.

"What!" shouted Lum. "You got a problem with this?"

"Yeah, what's the problem?" asked Kei. "It's sacred."

"Kakurenbo?" Mikoto snorted. "The sacred contest of the Oni is... tag?"

"No!" burst out Yuri with a loud laugh. "It's - it's kick-the-can!"

Both Yuri and Mikoto laughed out loud while Lum sparked and glowered and Kei just looked confused.

"Take a break," said Nakatomi. His eyelids were closed but it was clear it was not amused by Yuri's or Mikoto's humor. "I'll go over the chain of command and tactics again in the crew quarters in fifteen minutes. Be prepared."

He looked at Lum whose electrical field glowed visibly blue in the air and then at Mikoto whose laughter was not subsiding.

"Mikoto and Yuri please take your break in the supply compartment. I'll tell you when we're ready to continue."

With that he walked around the room to the crew airlock and left the four women alone. Mikoto looked at the arcing Lum and shook her head. She turned to Yuri with a broad grin and said "We'd better get out. Princess Tiger Lily doesn't see the joke."

The two women left, but before they went through the airlock to the storage compartment, Yuri reached out and touched Mikoto's shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" she shouted and both of them broke into fresh laughter.

Lum marched around the arc of the training room floor towards the airlock. Kei came up beside her.

"Don't do anything stupid," she told the Oni.

Lum stopped. She took off her glasses and passed enough current through the metal frames to leave them a smoking pile at her feet. Kei stepped back.

"Stupid? You think taking care of that worthless bitch is stupid?" she demanded.

"N-no," stuttered Kei.

"You can help me teach that electric wannabe how the rest of the galaxy wants her to behave. She's a menace and Moroboshi never should have hired her. He's fucking worthless but I can make sure she never gets anyone else killed ever again. Help. Me. With. That."

Lum marched to the airlock and entered the code. Kei hesitated. She looked across the room to the crew airlock, then closed her eyes and followed Lum.

Yuri and Mikoto sat close together on the edge of a crate of MREs, talking and giggling. Lum did not need to hear what they said to know what they spoke about. She crossed to the crate and pushed Mikoto to the floor.

"Hey!" Yuri shouted and stood to help Mikoto up.

"Get out of the way Yuri," Kei told her.

"Kei you can't just..." Yuri helped Mikoto to her feet and the caught sight of Lum, her blazing eyes and her arcing electrical field. "Settle down, Lum. We're just kidding around."

"Back off, Bimbette," Lum told her. "It's time to shut that bitch's power off."

"It's just a joke," said Yuri.

"No. It's not. Every sim we've run we have to tell her who to fight and where and when. Half the fucking time she's planning something totally off the wall and never tells me what's going on. She's no good, she doesn't follow orders and she won't fight. She's gonna get us killed."

"Kei, do something," pleaded Yuri.

But Kei only stood next to Lum.

"It's all right Yuri," Mikoto said. "I'm used to it."

"You're used to it," Lum parroted. "There's a reason for that you know. You keep fucking up. You keep killing people."

"Stop it," Yuri told her.

"We're next," Lum went on. "We're your team now. You're going to kill us - if I don't stop it."

"Lum! Don't!" shouted Yuri.

Lum held up her hands and a ball of blue energy formed between. Both Kei and Yuri stepped back. Yuri tugged at Mikoto's sleeve, urging her to move but Mikoto shrugged her off.

"Try it," she told the Oni.

Lum fired off the ball of energy at Mikoto. It hit the woman as she dove for the floor, lifting her up and flinging her at the wall/floor behind and above where she crashed with a shuddering thud.

"Oh my god!' said Yuri.

"Don't you ever tell me what to do, Railgun. The Oni have always had powers and I've used mine to fight since I was a little girl."

Mikoto lay slumped on the floor above Lum. Lum stepped over her and walked around the room to get to the training airlock. Kei followed.

"You bitch!" screamed Yuri. "Both of you. Watch your backs."

Mikoto climbed to her knees. As Lum walked to the airlock she stretched out her arm and fired off a jolt that punched the Oni up against the steel bulkhead with a clang.

"Is that all you got?" Mikoto croaked.

Lum slid down the bulkhead until she sat sprawl-legged on the floor.

"One thing you gotta know about me," Mikoto said as she rose to her feet. "When I was a kid I was trained to be a kind of super-soldier. I don't know if that's what they were doing but that's what happened. I get that you've been playing with your power since you were a little girl, but I was trained - by people with power and weapons, people who wanted to kill me. I was trained to fight - to the death."

Lum shook her head as if to clear it, then rolled forward onto her feet with sudden agility that shocked the other three.

"Shit," said Yuri and she stepped away from her REO.

Green hair flying out behind her, Lum fired off a blast towards Mikoto who made a gentle rolling dive away, then fired back with two balls of electricity. Lum dodged one ball but the other clipped her arm. She growled, hidden behind crates, then sprang up and let loose two streams of power. One stream passed on either side of Mikoto. The streams snapped together just as the woman ducked. The stink of ozone and burnt hair filled the room and behind Mikoto the floor/wall showed long scorch marks terminating at a pair of anti-gravity lifters. Yuri watched the fireworks but when she saw the lifters her eyes slid over to Kei, checking if her former partner shared her thoughts. Their eyes met and Kei betrayed herself with a quick glance at the lifters. Yuri grinned out a challenge and Kei gave her a two finger salute in acknowledgement, then flipped it over and retracted one digit.

Mikoto rolled forward until she hid behind a stack of water barrels. She reached around the blue plastic barrier to fire off a volley of shots that drove Lum down behind her crate.

Yuri dashed up the wall towards the lifters, hoping Lum would think she was running away. Kei spotted her and took off to grab the other machine, leaving Lum to crawl along the floor counter-clockwise and aft, away from Mikoto and towards a gap in the crates. Mikoto continued to fire ball lightning, bouncing it off the floor and rolling it towards Lum's previous position.

"Get away from that," Kei shouted to Yuri.

Both teens raced up and around the floor towards the lifters arriving simultaneously. Kei arrived just before Yuri and climbed aboard the unit closest to Lum. She used her position to hip-check Yuri as she climbed aboard the other unit, sending the blue-haired girl sprawling to the the curving deck.

"Back off, Yuri," snarled Kei.

Yuri fought back her sudden shock, then lunged at Kei as the lifter turned. She grabbed the red-head's ankle and pulled hard, dropping Kei chin-first into steel deck. Kei looked up, a smear of blood down her chin, and Yuri rolled away to climb onto the other lifter.

"Mikoto!" she yelled. "Keep it up. I'm on the way."

The anti-gravity base of the lifter could float over any object the base could climb and Yuri used this to speed around the floor. She drove in a corkscrew evading Lum's flashes and charting a cock-eyed course to her REO. She slowed down as the lifter passed behind Mikoto's crates and grabbed the fighter's arm.

"Get on."

"Why?" asked Mikoto.

"If you don't you'll be pinned down by those bitches and..."

But Lum already grasped the idea behind the lifter and stood on the front of her's firing off a charge large enough to melt steel while Kei drove the lifter right at Yuri.

"Oh shit!" Yuri screamed and dragged Mikoto aboard in time to make a hasty retreat around the top of the Oni.

Mikoto struggled to stand up on lift platform. With nothing to grasp, Yuri's erratic flying and Lum's attacks threatened to dump her off to skid, roll and bump to a stop against the supplies.

"Jesus, Blue! Slow down!"

"Start attacking! We gotta get 'em off our six."

Mikoto turned around. There was Lum close behind Yuri shooting out a blue stream of electrons as both pilots jinked and twirled around the deck in every direction imaginable.

"Get me up, Blue," Mikoto ordered.

Yuri made a sharp turn that brought the lifter around the outside of the room and at a right angle to Lum's craft. Kei dodged back but not before Mikoto blasted the Oni hard enough to make her arms shake.

"Drop down," shouted Lum. "Get ahead and swing back."

Kei floored the vehicle's accelerator and the pair raced to the other end of the room. Yuri hit the brakes and then flipped around to speed off against the far bulkhead.

"What are you doing?"

"We need distance. Get ready to blast Kei."

"Affirmative Blue."

The lifter pulled away, gaining speed slowly until Mikoto turned and directed her streams behind them onto the deck. Lum fired at her, catching Mikoto across her back and bringing her down to one knee.

"Yeah!" shouted the green-haired girl. "Get me up there!"

"Fire at Kei!" Yuri shouted. "Fire!"

"Hah! She's too scared."

Mikoto brought both hands up and charged a ball of air into plasma, then used her signature move to send it out at the other craft. It would not have even a quarter of the impact of a metal object, but it would be effective.

Lum saw what she planned and ducked but Kei caught the blast on the side of her neck. Her head snapped back and her right hand swung free, trailing behind her as her left hand spasmed around the control.

"Sunk one!" squealed Yuri and pumped her fist in the air.

Lum turned around. She grabbed the control and yanked her lifter sideways, up and around the room to pass Yuri and Mikoto overhead. She fired off twenty quick blasts as they passed and even though Mikoto shielded herself with her arm the attack nearly pushed her off the lifter. Yuri screamed in pain as the attacks passed to her.

Kei came around once more and Lum let go of the controls.

"Can you still fly?" the Oni asked.

Kei nodded although her wide eyes betrayed the force of Mikoto's attack.

"Then bring it around. I know one attack that prissy little thing can't fight off."

The two lifters floated at the opposite bulkheads. Mikoto rubbed her arms where the material was burned away and her skin shone red and blistered. Yuri's coverall showed singe marks on the back and she winced as she straightened up. Kei trembled at the controls and her hair resembled a haystack struck by lightning, but Lum stood nearly untouched and snarling on the deck of her lifter. she lifted both arms above her head.

"Run at them Red," she growled.

"Affirmative Tiger," answered Kei.

The lifter moved along, slowly. Even if Lum had no fear, Kei felt reluctance to close the space between her and Mikoto.

Yuri started out as well, but Mikoto told her to stop. She stepped off the lifter and snagged a loose metal stopper from a plastic barrel. When she jumped back on board she whispered a command to Yuri.

"Come at them straight ahead. If she uses a power attack I can shield you."

Yuri nodded and her lifter moved out just as slowly as Kei's.

The training airlock opened. Nakatomi stepped through and when he saw the damaged done to the room he shouted for them to stop. Neither Kei nor Yuri listened. The two carts circled each other in slow motion describing sickening complex circles around the three dimensional curve of the floor.

"Stop! Stop this instant!" shouted Nakatomi.

Lum shot off a couple blasts at Mikoto who put up a counter charge and deflected them. She flipped the metal cap off her thumbnail and caught it in her open hand.

"What's that?" asked Lum. "Are you going to throw that at me?"

Mikoto looked puzzled. "You don't know?"

"Mikoto! Put that down now!" ordered Nakatomi.

Mikoto smiled. "You don't know why they call me Railgun, do you?"

"You could damage the ship," yelled the man. "Put it down. Stop it now, all of you."

The two carts continued to circle.

"Uh, Railgun?" asked Yuri.

"Keep going," Mikoto told her.

Yuri kept the lifter angled so Mikoto was just ahead of Lum. Mikoto kept flipping the disc and now she smiled.

"You didn't tell them, Nakatomi san."

"Tell us what?" Kei asked.

Mikoto grinned wider. She waved Yuri to speed up just a little and fired off a stream to keep Kei back. Lum countered with a full-field attack and kept Kei going.

"Stop. Now." Nakatomi backed up against the airlock, ready to step though should there be a breach.

"You know my nickname is Railgun, but you have no idea why." She flipped the coin again. "Railgun isn't just a name, it's what I am."

Mikoto palmed the disk and fired off a double shot that forced the other women to duck. She smiled knowingly at them.

"You learn quick. I'll give you that."

Kei stopped. Lum leaned back and brought both arms up over her head. a ball of plasma formed between her hands and her field expanded in blue arcs.

"Lum! I'm ordering you to stop."

The oni brought her hands forward with a grunt, throwing the plasma at Mikoto. She leaned back but took the charge in her out-stretched hands trying to block it with a quick reverse charge of her own. Most of the charge struck her full across her chest and shook her hard. She heard a scream but did not know if it were her own or Yuri's. What she did not absorb or block passed by to Yuri, but the pilot rolled to the floor and the charge passed overhead. Mikoto blacked out. She came to still standing, still holding the disk in her hand. She smiled and shook her head in denial at the Oni. The disk flipped up once more and a charge formed along her arms.

"NO!" screamed Nakatomi.

It was too late. The charged disk flew out towards Lum who dodged by hitting the floor flat and dragging Kei down with her.

The disk accelerated, but only to half the speed of sound. The metal did not even heat appreciably across the narrow space between Mikoto and Lum. It impacted the side of the lifter with a loud clang which shocked the three women and made Nakatomi wince. Mikoto stared out at her adversaries with a grim glare.

"My name is Railgun, Lum," she announced. "I can destroy you, but I won't. I could have disintegrated you and Kei and punched a hole through the hull in the process. I didn't. I won't. I was trained in how to do this and that means control. I will never really harm you."

She stepped down from her cart and went to a barrel where she pried loose another metal plug from its top. She flipped it in the air and caught it in her hand.

"Trust me," she finished and gave the group a crooked smile.

Mikoto walked round the deck until she came to the airlock. Nakatomi let her through, then stepped into the room after she left. He stood looking at the three women sitting on the floor staring at each other and although none of them could tell, he smiled.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her," he said and stuck his hands into his front pockets.

"She's a weapon," said Lum. "She'll kill us all."

Yuri shook her head. She climbed to her feet and brushed herself off.

"Knock it off, Lum. She's one of us. We have to trust each other. There's no other way."

Yuri left. Nakatomi watched her leave. Kei stood and offered a hand to Lum who reluctantly took it.

"I suppose you think she's okay?" Lum asked.

Kei shrugged. She turned to Nakatomi and asked, "Can we do - whatever this is - with just one robot?"

Nakatomi shook his head. Kei turned back to Lum and shrugged again.

"We need her. She needs us. That makes us a team."

Kei left. Before the airlock closed Nakatomi held it open with his hand.

"Get Yuri and Mikoto san and have them at the table in the quarters," he told Kei. "You can wait there for me."

The airlock closed and Nakatomi placed his hands back in his pockets.

"She's going to get us all killed," Lum told him.

Nakatomi did not respond.

"You too. All of us."

He looked down at the scorched deck. "You're a warrior, right?" he asked.

"Yes. Of course." Lum answered as if the question were moot.

He nodded. "There's a good chance that what we're doing here will get us all killed."

"That's what I mean," she said.

"That's not what I mean. There's a good chance - a very good chance- that you and I and Mikoto san and Yuri and Kei and Moroboshi San and everyone on board the Ume, that we will all die out there, and it won't be Mikoto san's fault."

Lum furrowed her brow as if she were unable to comprehend what he meant. "I know that," she told him. "That's war."

"Then if you are a warrior you should accept the dangers of the situation. You should work towards making your team the strongest it can be and trust to your commanders to make the wisest decisions they can."

"But she's dangerous!"

Nakatomi shook his head. "You are all dangerous, and you are all the best we could get. Follow me into the crew quarters. I need to address this."

He turned to the airlock and opened it but did not hold the door open for Lum. By the time she entered the training compartment Nakatomi was in the quarters. She took her time crossing the space and composed herself before she opened the airlock. When the door opened no one looked in her direction. The three women sat at the plain metal table near the short food prep counter. Each had a sheet of paper in front of her. A fourth chair remained empty with the remaining sheet on the table in front.

"Take the open seat," Nakatomi told her.

She crossed to the table and sat down. Ataru stood next to the counter drinking from a mug, although Lum noticed the contents did not steam. Unlike Nakatomi, Ataru regularly wore running clothes: shorts and a shirt. Now she noticed his bare limbs looked well-toned and his stomach trim. She looked away to the paper.

"Today the four of you engaged in behavior that endangered yourselves, the Phaseolus, and the entire mission of the Ume and the Mars Corporation. Had you damaged the ship or injured each other there is no telling what the outcome would have been. Those actions are not acceptable. I will not accept them. The documents in front of you represent the total of the supplies on board the Phaseolus. When you are not training, sleeping or eating, you will be in the supply compartment working. You will begin with an inventory of each supply on this list. You will open every crate, barrel, box and bag and you will check to make sure nothing has been damaged or lost. After that you will scrub and polish and wipe away every trace of damage to the compartment and when you are done with that, if we are on board the Ume, you will report to the mess and perform whatever duties the mess officer sees fit to give you. Is this clear?"

The four nodded. Lum looked up at Ataru again and noticed he looked directly at her. She looked away quickly.

"Is this clear!?" Nakatomi demanded.

"Yes," they answered.

"You will answer 'affirmative' or 'negative'. Is. This. Clear?"

"Affirmative!" they all answered.

"Your punishment will begin..."

"Hold on, Sui san," Ataru said.

Nakatomi did not respond. Lum silently congratulated Ataru for removing every trace of spine from the man.

"Yes?" Nakatomi asked.

"I don't think we need to do all that."

"They may have destroyed the ship, Moroboshi-san."

"Yes, and we will inventory the supplies. That's just good management, but I think we should reward these girls."

Now, to Lum's amazement, Nakatomi responded. Although he never said or did anything to indicate he was anything but subservient, every person in the room knew the man was livid.

"Why?" he asked.

"In two weeks of training," said Ataru, "you four have shown only average skills at your tasks. Lum, although you are the leader your ideas are uninspired. Yuri, Kei, you fly as though the fate of your ships is secondary to your own survival. And Mikoto, you have not engaged. You just want to get done and get out."

The four women all looked down at the lists on the table. No one said a word.

"Today," continued Ataru, "you four formed teams and worked to attack your opponents. Lum, you led. Mikoto, you attacked. Yuri and Kei both piloted their ships despite obvious personal danger. This is an improvement."

The four women looked at each other. Nakatomi visibly slumped where he stood.

"Starting today every fourth training sortie will flown be against each other. You will not be awarded points. When you make a kill and return to the Ume you will receive a sticker for the side of your trainer."

"The food!" said Nakatomi. "Our water and supplies!"

Ataru laughed and went on. "To make up for the loss in training you will fly twenty-five percent more sorties per day."

The four women and Nakatomi groaned. Ataru smiled.

"And when you are not flying or sleeping the four of you will inventory and repair everything in the storage compartment. We can't serve food until we know what we have left so start with that. Dismissed."

Mikoto, Kei and Yuri looked at each other, then at Lum. The green-haired Oni did not return their looks but instead stared up at Ataru. Her eyes were narrowed and showed obvious loathing, but to each of the women something else was visible: desire.

"I said dismissed," repeated Ataru. He returned Lum's look, without the smoldering emotions, and respectfully nodded to her.

The women stood up and filed back out of the room holding their papers.

Nakatomi sat. He leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his stomach and his chin on his chest.

"Don't pout, Sui san. You know how this ends."

Nakatomi sighed. "It's not my place to earn their respect but sometimes..." he looked up at Ataru who grinned down at his aide.

"They'll respect you, but not for your military leadership. Everyone respects you."

"Not them, Tari kun."

"Everyone," repeated Ataru. "Let's fire up the that view pad and watch the girls beat each other up some more. It'll make you feel better."

"You are one sick puppy," Nakatomi told his boss, but when he produced the pad and placed it on the table, he leered.


	4. Fly On The Wall

**Part 1 - Hitchin' a Ride**

**Episode 4 - Fly on the Wall**

Kei flopped into her bunk without bothering about sheets, blankets or removing her coverall. Yuri sat on the edge of her own bunk, wrapped in a blanket and toweling her hair. When Kei hit the mattress Yuri sniffed once, then wrinkled her nose and sniffed her towel, then her hair and then the air once more. Finally she turned towards Kei, sniffed twice and covered her nose.

"Kei," she whined. "Take a shower."

"Too tired and that water is gross.  
"Nakatomi says the filters are just fine. Go take a shower."

"Bull. I washed my hair Tuesday and the water foamed up before I put in shampoo."

"You stink. You stink almost as bad as you did when we were training for the volleyball thing. Just shower."

Mikoto came in wearing a robe and brushing her teeth. When she walked near Kei she waved her own hand in front of her nose.

"That's some funk you got there," she said.

"Water's gross. Filter's are busted," said Kei.

"She thinks the water isn't clean."

"Water's fine, Red. Take a shower," Mikoto told her.

"We've been on this thing for four months," protested Kei. "Who know's how long the water has been here. That crap foams without soap. It's not clean."

The curtain dividing the female bunks from the rest of the compartment parted and Lum entered wrapped only in a towel. She sniffed as soon as she entered and let out a disgusted groan.

"Go take a shower."

"That water is gross," Kei told the alien.

Lum looked down at Kei and seemed surprised the girl was speaking.

"Oh. It's you. It only needs to be cleaner than you are. Go shower."

"Fine," said Kei and she left the area and stomped off towards the single shower..

"I'm beat," said Mikoto. "Did we really run forty-three sorties today?"

"Forty five," said Yuri.

"And you were out of position for eight of the runs," Lum told her.

"But we kicked your ass seven times," sniped the teen.

"Six. The Ume was on fire the third time."

"It didn't blow up until AFTER we docked," Yuri told her, "So suck it."

"Seriously? That's what you consider a win?"

Lum looked at Mikoto who just sat on the edge of her bunk smiling.

"What the hell was that field thing you threw out?" Lum asked.

Mikoto shrugged. "Don't know. It was just a reflex. I used to do stuff with charged sand. I guess the sim interpreted my move as ionizing gas or something."

"It was lame. It didn't stop anything."

Kei appeared once more, her hair damp and her curves wrapped in a robe like Mikoto's. "What? That field thingy?" she asked.

"Fuck, that was quick," said Yuri. "Did you even wash yourself?"

"Again. Gross water. Should I speak slower?"

"Yes, the field," said Mikoto, steering the discussion back away from the water. She did not want to think about the number of times her shower water might have run down someone else's body, no matter how good the filters were.

"The sim said it slowed some of the rounds by ten percent," said Kei.

Lum scowled at the red-head. "Ten percent is useless. The kinetic force would still knock out the armor."

"I'll try it on the real thing when we get there," Mikoto told her. "Maybe I can up the juice."

"Akimitsui says the sims are almost a hundred percent accurate. Why bother?" asked Lum.

"You know, hoppers are faster than in the sim," Mikoto said. "And they look a lot smaller."

"Oh that's right," said Lum with a fake smile. "You fought them, didn't you?"

"Lum," warned Yuri.

Mikoto stayed silent.

"Look, I'm tired," said Kei. I'm going to sleep. Wake me at breakfast."

She dropped her robe and flopped down on the bunk once more without benefit of blanket, sheet or clothing.

"Eeeww! Come on, Kei. Cover up," ordered Yuri.

Lum turned her face away from the spectacle and winced. "That's just not right. Get under the covers."

"Too hot,' said Kei.

There was a knock outside the curtain made by a foot tapping the deck three times.

"Man on deck," announced Akimitsui.

Five seconds later the curtain parted and the bespectacled and bow-tied head and neck of the secretary of the CEO of Mars Incorporated appeared.

"Oh!" he looked up/around the curving room and then quickly away from Kei. "I'll come back."

"I'm too tired to get up, Sui san," Kei told him.

"Is it... okay for me to be here?"

He swallowed and looked down at his feet..

"If you can take it, I can take it," Kei told him.

His eyes flipped up once more. "All right then. I only wanted to tell you that the Phaseolus is closing in on the Ume. We should be within visual range by breakfast."

"We're getting off this thing?" squeaked Yuri.

"Tomorrow, provided our course hasn't changed. I will signal them tonight and they should update trajectory information and move the remote pickup shuttle."

Akamitsui remained behind the curtain looking from one woman to the next.

"Is there something else?" Lum asked with the same smile she used on Mikoto.

"No. Uh, I'll see you at breakfast. Sleep tight." He closed the curtain.

Yuri giggled. "Did he just scope us out?"

"Yes Yuri. After a month in space, a guy who has spent every day in the same room with you and your twins," she indicated the two mounds bulging from the top of Yuri's blanket, "took in the view. It happens."

"No shit. It's been four months for me," said Kei.

"Me too," added Yuri, "and Lum."

"Are you're saying Sui san looks good?" asked Mikoto.

Kei pulled a pillow over her head. "Christ. Shut up already."

Lum remained silent. Three more knocks sounded outside and the curtain parted. It was Akamitsui again.

"I just located the Ume on long range radio telescope and it appears she is under attack. We are enforcing complete radio silence to protect the Phaseolus."

"What - what does that mean?" asked Yuri.

"Are we in danger?" asked Lum.

"I don't think so. We weren't communicating and, except for the ambient heat signature, there isn't anything to give us away."

Mikoto looked at the man's white knuckles as his hands gripped the curtain cloth.

"It's okay," she said to him. "Nakatomi san, it's okay. Can you tell if there is a Tulip near by?"

Akamatsui nodded and let go of the cloth, ducking away. Lum and Yuri turned to Mikoto.

"What was that?" asked the alien.

"He has a fear of dying in space," Mikoto said.

"Who don't?" asked Yuri.

"I think that if the Ume is attacked or the shuttle is damaged he's afraid we might not make the connection."

"So?" asked Lum.

Mikoto's voice dropped to a whisper. "It will be two years until the Phaseolus would come back to a point where they could retrieve our bodies, if anyone would bother."

"Oh," said Yuri and she lay back on her bunk.

Lum stalked to the curtain and threw it open. "Hey!" she shouted. "Does this thing have an optical telescope?"

Mikoto joined Lum at the curtain, pulling the robe around her and tying it shut. Ataru, who sat at the kitchen table staring at a tablet computer turned to look at the Oni. Mikoto noticed he stared at Lum and did not look away.

"Yes. Of course," Ataru told her. "It's a Celestron nine and a quarter." His eyes suddenly widened. "That's great," he said. "We can use it..." He turned back to the tablet and tapped its surface. "Ah-ha! we can see the battle."

Mikoto followed Lum to the table and stood behind the man while Lum stood next to the chair leaning in close to look at the image on the tablet. She noticed Ataru did not flinch or look away even when the half naked Oni rubbed against him, and Mikoto knew Lum did not care whose space she invaded. Still, Mikoto had the distinct feeling that, despite Ataru's aloofness and Lum's professed dislike for her boss, she was intruding on something intimate. She backed away and went to find Akamitsui.

The secretary stood by the food prep counter hunched over his tablet watching everything with interest. Mikoto leaned in close and Nakatomi leaned back just enough to keep a respectful distance.

"May I see also, Nakatomi san?" she asked.

"Yes. Of course," answered the man and he turned the tablet so that she could see as well.

The image was infrared and the tiny fighters appeared as yellow, orange and red blobs flashing across the screen. Mikoto recognized the images from her training on Tranquility Base and soon deciphered which blobs were the Ume's fighters and which were the hoppers.

"Can we see the shuttle?" she asked.

"No," he responded. "The Ume must have shut off all the systems onboard to prevent tracking. There is no heat source in the area."

"What about low-level re-radiation from the sun? Can this array pick that up?"

"Thank you, Mikoto san," Nakatomi said. He did not raise his head from the pad nor did he look at her. "The Phaseolus' equipment is very old and it was never state of the art to begin with. We can see the battle but not much else."

"Then tell me what's going on here."

Now he looked up. Mikoto smiled down at him and touched his arm.

"Of course. The bright orange here and here are the Ume fighters. you can tell from the heat signatures of the rockets and the scattered way they move. The green dots are hoppers. See how they stay in tight formations?"

Nakatomi droned on, repeating information from Mikoto's basic training and giving a play-by-play of the battle. She watched the screen and tuned the man out, trying to fight her own fears. After a few minutes something odd occurred to her.

"Where's the Ume?" she asked.

"Oh you can't see it in infrared. The hull was designed to absorb very little of the sun's heat and it deploys a radiator when it's not under attack."

"Can we see it on the telescope?"

He nodded. She patted his upper arm.

"I'll be right back. I'm just curious."

Yuri, now wrapped in a robe, emerged from the curtained space and went to stand next to Ataru. Kei followed, a robe around her body as well. Mikoto shook her head at the two teens whose curves threatened to burst from the robes at any moment. She stood on the other side of Ataru from Lum, just behind Yuri.

"Could you show me the Ume?" she asked.

Ataru pointed a finger at an area of the screen behind the fighting. "Right there."

Mikoto leaned in and squinted to see.

"I don't see anything," she said.

Both Ataru and Lum looked up at her as though she were requesting they interrupt open heart surgery to open a jar of pickles.

"Please?" she begged.

"Yeah, I wanna see too," said Kei.

The group looked at Yuri as if she were casting the final vote. She looked at each of them in turn and then rolled her eyes. "Yes, let's take a look."

Lum growled and Ataru mumbled something, then tapped and swiped the screen until it showed the ship.

"That's weird," said Yuri. "Is that the launch bay? That big, round hangy-down thing at the end?"

"That's... that's just not right," added Lum. "It's long and purple and why does it have a helmet on that other end?"

Kei giggled. "Maybe I've been in space for too long," she said, "but it looks like a big purple..."

"Kei!" Mikoto cut her off. "It's not a standard design, that's all."

Kei laughed and Yuri giggled. Lum did her best to scowl at the teens but had to turn away and cover a guffaw after a moment. Mikoto smiled and noticed even Ataru chuckled silently.

"Thanks," she told him. "I think we can go back to watching the battle now."

Ataru adjusted the display once more and the battle scene replaced the Ume. Lum, Kei and Yuri sobered up and Mikoto started back to Akamitsui until Kei tilted her head and asked, "Which end do the fighters launch from?"

The three of them groaned.

"What? It's been four months."

Mikoto returned to the counter and Akamitsui looked up. He grimaced in silent apology for his boss's joke. Mikoto grinned at the man and leaned over the tablet again.

The battle was fierce but short. To Mikoto it looked as though the hoppers were unprepared for the Ume forces, perhaps caught unawares as they passed the ship. The fighters outnumbered and outclassed the tiny ships, utterly destroying the entire flight. Mikoto watched in infrared as the ships returned to the dark Ume and vanished one by one into the landing bay.

"Yeah!" shouted Kei. We kicked their asses."

Yuri did a little bouncy dance in celebration and the two turned to each other to hug, then they both stopped. Yuri scowled at Kei and shook her head, then went back behind the curtain. Kei looked at Lum and Mikoto then shuffled back to her bunk. Lum put a hand up for Mikoto to slap but when the woman turned around the alien suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing and closed the fingers and dropped her hand. Mikoto shook her head and mumbled something under her breath, then joined the teens in the bunk area.

"Looks like it's over," said Ataru. "Sui san, get a fix on their laser transmitter. I want a beam message to Admiral Gikadi and Commander McCommick congratulating them on the battle, then I want to know when they're picking us up."

Lum turned to Ataru and caught his eye. He stared at her openly, then forced a smile to his face.

"We won," he said.

Lum glared."It's not a game," she hissed and turned away to vanished behind the curtain. Ataru watched her go.

"Admiral Gikadi says thank you and that we would be picked up at oh-seven-hundred corporate time," Akamatsui said.

"What time is it now?" Ataru asked.

"Eleven pm. Do you need anything?"

He shook his head. "Get some sleep."

"Thanks. It's been a long day."

"Been a long four months."

Akamitsui arched an eyebrow at his boss, then looked back at the closed curtain. He nodded and turned towards his own bed.

"Good night, Tari kun," he said and vanished behind the men's curtain.

Ataru turned back to the pad, then left the table and crossed to the counter where Akamitsui's pad lay, still displaying the infrared viewer in the background. Ataru tapped the screen to switch to the application and watched as the remains of one damaged fighter drifted in space and faded slowly from brilliant yellow to red and down through blue until it vanished black into the background of space.

"That's one," he told himself.


End file.
